A focus on empowering the working poor.
We are attracted to situations where our donation enables disadvantaged people to develop previously untapped capabilities and therefore become better empowered to meet their own needs going forward. Empowerment opportunities appeal to us because they can result in an on-going return from our original investment, rather than just a one-time benefit.
Our donation can substantially affect the project's success.
We prefer to invest where our level of giving can make a substantial impact on the success of a project or organization. As such, we tend to avoid situations - even highly deserving ones - where our donation is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on the end result. Historically, and with only a few exceptions, our grants have ranged from $2,500 to $100,000. This level of funding tends to bias us toward small to medium size organizations or towards specific projects in larger organizations where this level of giving can make a difference. In 2007 our median grant award was $20,000.
Our donation is efficiently and productively used.
We are attracted to highly productive organizations that derive disproportionate outcomes relative to the dollars invested. When considering a donation, we scrutinize overhead and administrative costs closely because we want as much of our donation as possible to reach the people who need it. We realize some administrative overhead is required for most projects. However, the organizations we have funded in the past have been unusually successful at managing these costs.
The project has a measurable outcome.
When we fund something, we want to be confident that at the end of the effort we can determine whether or not we were successful. As such, we tend to focus on projects with clearly specified milestones and measurable outcomes.
The Foundation is invited to speak publicly from time to time about its philosophy of giving and related grant making activities. Click on the links below to read transcripts of the following presentations:
